Annals of Arid ZOfle-20 (I), 28·34, 1981

Response of spring mung [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] bean toirrigation and anti-transpirants with and without mulching

A. SINGH, I.P.S. AHLAWAT AND C.S. SARAF

Division of Agronomy,Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi

ABSTRACT

Field trials were conducted at Indian Agricultural ResearchInstitute in spring seasons of 1974 and 1975 to study the effect ofmulches and anti-transpirants with and without post-plantingirrigations on mung bean cv. pusa Baisakhi. Resultsindicated that 3 irrigations applied at 0.75 bar upto flowering

and 5 bar afterwards till maturity resulted significant improvement inplant growth, yield attributes and seed yield over no post-plantingirrigation. Straw mulch increased the pod production and seed yieldas compared to no mulch and S{)i1 mulch. Anti·transpirants had noeffect on plant growth and seed yield.

INTRODUCTION

Cultivation of m:tng [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] bean during spring{summer season is catching up in North-western India due to expense of irrigationfacilities. The high evaporative demands during this period resulting in highconsumptive use makes the cultivation of this crop an uneconomic proposition.Earlier studies on irrigation aspect of mung bean revealed that irrigation at 0.75bar upto flowering and 5 bar afterwards till maturity of the crop which involvesabout 3 or 4 irrigations during cropping season is optimum (Anonymous, 1965-70).The proposed study was undertaken to find out the possibility of redu-:ingfurther the consumptive use of water through use of mulches and anti-transpirants.Mulches by reducing evaporation loss of soil moisture and diurnal fluctuationsin soil temperature play an important role in reducing the consumptive use andincreasing the water use efficiency (Ray, 1963). Reduced transpiration losses andhigher water use efficiency through anti-transpirants were reported by Zelitch(1963), Ray (1969), Abou-Khaled et aI. (1970).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

An experiment was conducted at Indian Agricultural Research Institute,New Delhi, during 1974 and 1975 on a sandy loam soil of medium fertility. The

AGRONOMIC PR.ACTICES WITH V. RADfAT A 29

treatments comprised soil moisture regimes (no post-planting irrigation andirrigation at 0.75 bar in 0-20 cm layer upto flowering and 5 bar after floweringin 0-30 cm layer till maturity) and mulches (no mulch, soil mulch and straw mulch)as main plot treatments and anti-transpirants (water spray, kaolin at 6 per centand PMA at 10_Sm concentration) as sub-plot treatments laid out in split plotdesign with 3 replications. Soil mulch treatment was imposed 10 days aftersowing. Straw mulch at 4 tonnes/ha was also applied at the same time. Kaolinand PMA were sprayed a month after sowing. A basal dose of 100 kgdi-ammonium phosphate was applied to all plots at sowing. The crop was sownon March 15 and April 10 and harvested on May 16 and June 16 in 1974 and1975 respectively. The meteorological observations recorded during croppingseasons are presented in Table 1.

The field capacity and wilting point at 0-20 cm were 18.5 and 7.1 per centrespectively. The corresponding figures for 0-30 cm were 18.0 and 7.0. The bulkdensity was 1.47 and 1.49 for 0-20 and 0-30 cm respectively.

RESUL TS AND DISCUSSION

Effect of soil moisture regime : Growth and yield parameters and thegrain production were markedly affected by irrigation in both the seasons.Irrigated crop recorded better growth (plant height) and higher productivityper plant as compared to unirrigated crop. Post-planting irrigations alsoimproved the root nodulation. Seed yield increased significantly by irrigationin both the seasons (Table 2). The percentage increase in yield with irrigationbeing 342.3 and 134.4 per cent in 1974 and 1975, respectively. This crop has anextreme sensitivity to water stress. Net photosynthetic rate may be reduceddrastically if the leaf-water potential is below - 2 bars (Anonymous, 1976).Reduction in photosynthetic efficiency might have been the principal reasonof poor growth and yielding ability of the plants as has been observedin the present investigation. Increased plant growth and grain productivity insummer mung bean by irrigation has also been reported by various workers(Bhatia and Chowdhury, 1972; Singh and Bhardwaj, 1975).

Obviously the consumptive use was much higher in irrigated plots tothat of unirrigated one. The water use efficiency was also higher in case ofirrigated crop. However, normally, it records higher values with decreasing ratesof water application. The' higher water use efficiency in irrigated crop was dueto wide variations in seed yield of irrigated and un irrigated crop (table 3).

Effect of mulch: Data set out in Table 2 would reveal thatthe number of pods per plant and seed yield s,howed perceptible variations

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AGRONOMIC PRACTICES WITH. v. RA[)/AT A 33

due to mulches. Plant height and 1,000: grain weight, however,remainec::lunaffected. Straw mulch increased the number of . pods per plant . significantlyover no mulch and soil mulch, the latter both being at par. Similar trendwas also observed in respect of seed yield•.Straw mulch recorded. 10 8 and.52.0 percent higher seed yield over no mulch in 1974 and 1975, respectively. Increasedpod formation in straw mulch may be attributed to efficient utilization of" soilmoisture (Table 3) till later part of plant growth (reproductive phase) when theincreasing soil moisture tensions adversely affect the flower and pod formation.Thus, higher productivity per plant accounted for increased seed )ield. The failureof soil mulch might be on account of higher atmospheric temperatures whichresulted in faster soil moisture losses particularly during initial stages till thecrop canopy is complete. Efficient soil moisture utilization and higher product-ivity by straw mulch have also been reported by Agrawal (1974) and Patil (1974).

Effect of anti-transpiranls : Anti-transpirants did not affect the plant'growth and grain production (Table 2). It thus, appears that rates of anti-transpirants used in the present investigation offer no promise of adequatetranspiration retardation in mung bean when the atmospheric temperatures areat their extremes during spring months. None of the interaction effect wassignificant.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thanks are due to Dr. Rajat De, Head of the Division of Agronomy,Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, for providing the facilities.

REFERENCES

Abou-Khaled, A., Hagan, R.M. and Davenport, D.C. 1970. Effect of kaoliniteas a reflective anti-transpirant on leaf temperature, photosynthesis andwater use efficiency. Water Resource Res. 6 : 280-289.

Agrawal, S.K. 1974. Effect of rates of nitrogen, mulching and anti-transpirantson water use efficiency, growth, yield and nutrient uptake of barley(Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties under rainfed conditions. Ph. D. Thesis.J.A.R.I., New Delhi.

Anonymous 1965-70. Exploratory trial for perfecting agronomy of moong.Achievement Audit Report, Division of Agronomy, LA.R.I., New Delhi•.

Bhatia, P.C. and Chowdhury, S. L. 1972. Effect of phosphate and irrigationlevels on grain yield of summer moong. Fertil. News 17 : 37-38.

34 : A. SIN'HG el al.

Pati!, B.B. 1974. Effect of nitrogen fertilization, r,ow spacing an~ anti-transpirantson growth, yield and 'water u'Se by rape seed (Brassica, compestris Val'.brown sarson) under dryland cunditions. Ph.D., Thesis. I. A. R. !.,

, . New Delhi.

Ray, S.B. 1963. Study of moisture losses under cropped conditions and onbare soil and some measures for efficient utilization of moisture for cropproduction. Ph. D. Thesis. IA.R.I., New Delhi.

Ray, S.B. 1969. Transpiration reduction by use of light reflecting materials.Symp. on 'Planning for Drought Areas' organised by the National Imtituteof Science' of India, New Delhi (Abstract, 34).

Singh, A. and Bhardwaj, R.B.L... 1975. Effect of irrigatjon and row spacmg onsummer moong. Indian .T. Agron. 20: 185-186.

Zelitch, I. 1963. The control and mechanisms of stqmatal movement. ConnecticutAgri. Expt . .:ltu. Bull. 664. 18-42 •

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